As soon as these words were spoken, they caused an uproar.
"Absurd!" Duke Yan exclaimed angrily, "Where did this young brat come from! Spouting nonsense here!
Just now, this person fell to the ground and died from poisoning, everyone saw it with their own eyes, and it was confirmed by the coroner.
And now you say he's not dead just because you say so?!"
"Your Highness, a human life is at stake, any further delay and it might really be too late!" The man in plain clothes ignored Duke Yan and only had eyes for Lu Qing.
Lu Qing looked slightly puzzled but didn't hesitate, nodding towards the man.
The man in plain clothes went straight to where the guard had fallen.
Duke Yan's guards were about to intervene but seeing their master shake his head, they withheld action and let the man pass.
"Today, I want to see what extraordinary skills the Prince Mansion possesses, to bring someone back to life." Duke Yan sneered, pointing at the man in plain clothes, "If that guard doesn't make it, I'll be the first to send you down to accompany him!"
The man slightly paused his steps, then resumed his previous pace.
He quickly reached the guard, pressing a finger on the guard's purplish face.
Wherever his finger touched, the purple faded, leaving a pale imprint, which slowly returned to a horrifying indigo color.
Seeing this, the man in plain clothes breathed a sigh of relief, then checked the guard's nostrils for breath and found none.
He picked up the guard's hand, checking it over and saw that apart from calluses left from long-term martial training, there were no injuries such as clenched fists or scratch marks from clawing the ground.
"Your Highness, could someone fetch some soap beans and warm water?" he asked Lu Qing.
Lu Qing nodded to a servant beside him, who was as pale as a sheet; the servant hurriedly went to prepare and soon returned with what was requested.
Under the curious eyes of the crowd, the plain-clothed man quickly dissolved the soap beans in warm water, making a bowl of slippery solution.
He stirred the mixture with his finger, scraped off some foam, and carefully spread it over the guard's nostrils.
The thin foam trembled slightly.
"Your Highness, this person is still breathing!" the man announced with more confidence, "Now we need someone to help blow air into his nose."
Lu Qing nodded, signaling to his own guard, who immediately understood, stepping forward with wide strides and knelt beside the poisoned man.
"Wait! What are you up to?!" Duke Yan's eyebrows were knitted in frustration, "Why are you making such a spectacle with so many people watching?"
"Didn't Duke Yan just insist that this man was poisoned by me?" Lu Qing smiled lightly, "What are you worried about now? Afraid I'll kill him again in front of everyone?"
Duke Yan was left speechless by his remark, angrily turned away, muttering, "Nonsense!"
Prince Yi Lu Zhang, who seemed slightly relieved hearing that the guard was not dead, opened his mouth to say something to Duke Yan but reconsidered after a severe look from his maternal grandfather.
The plain-clothed man lifted the jaw of the poisoned man, ensuring his mouth couldn't open, then nodded to the guard, "Please help."
Though the guard didn't know what was intended, he complied efficiently, blowing heavily into the poisoned man's nose, causing his chest to rise and fall. The plain-clothed man quickly released the man's jaw, and a foul breath escaped his mouth.
After repeating this a few times, the guard stopped, and the chest of the poisoned man showed slight movement.
He's breathing!
Those around gasped in surprise.
"Now, please pour this bowl of water into him!" The man sighed with relief, handing over the slippery solution to the Prince Mansion's guard.
The guard didn't hesitate for a moment; though he didn't know who this person was, he knew to help when his master called on him.
The sturdy man lifted the poisoned man's upper body effortlessly, pinched open his jaws, and skillfully poured the bowl of slick soap bean water down his throat.
He used a method that allowed not a drop to spill from the poisoned man's mouth.
Once the bowl was empty, the man motioned to the guard, and he inserted a clean finger into the man's mouth, poking and prodding.
Soon, the unconscious victim reacted, vomiting a large amount, and continued to retch on his own.
"He's alive!" The spectators were so shocked by the scene that they almost forgot to close their mouths.
A man determined by the coroner to have died of poisoning was brought back with such bizarre measures!
The old coroner, crouching at the side, eyes nearly popping from their sockets, trembled even more violently than before.
But unlike the others, the plain-clothed man didn't pay much more attention to the now-sleeping poisoned man but instead signaled a Prince Mansion servant to bring a lantern closer, to get a better look at the vomit on the ground.
He squatted, leaned closer for a look, smeared some vomit with his finger, and brought it to his nose to smell, frowning.
The action successfully made half the onlookers gag.
The "plain-clothed man" was naturally Zhu Yu in disguise.
If possible, she wouldn't choose to be squatting on the ground, smelling someone else's vomit on her wedding night.
But for the sake of a peaceful future, she had no choice.
Luckily, the poisoned guard hadn't eaten anything before, so what he vomited was just the wine he drank earlier and the soap bean water.
In Zhu Yu's experience, this wasn't bad at all.
"Your Highness, what wine did this person drink before?" she respectfully asked Lu Qing, "Could the wine have been yellowish-green and slightly fishy?"
"Certainly not." Lu Qing shook his head, his gaze casually passing over Prince Yi Lu Zhang, "The wine at today's banquet is all royal gifts, transported from the Wine Supervision Department of the Imperial Kitchen before the banquet started.
How could royal wine have a yellowish-green fishy smell?"
"Is the jug of wine that the guard drank from still here?" Zhu Yu inquired again.
Lu Qing said nothing, the guard who had just helped Zhu Yu pointed to the wet glistening on the ground and the shattered wine jug fragments: "This guy took a sip and collapsed, the jug and the cup shattered, the wine was spilled all over."
Zhu Yu narrowed her eyes, examining the fragments on the ground.
At Prince Xiaoyao's wedding, there's no way they would use crude clay jugs. Along her way here, she had noticed that each table was set with exquisite white fat jade stone jugs, with fine carvings and a smooth luster.
Not being well-versed in gems, she at least knew that white fat jade stone came from Lan Country, adjacent to Shuo Country where she grew up. Its biggest trait was its translucency yet resilience—it could be light-permeable but wasn't prone to breaking, and it was favored by master jade carvers for its playability over the delicate and fragile stones. Therefore, it was particularly rare, and naturally quite expensive.
A wine jug made from such white fat jade stone, dropped by the poisoned man, had shattered into several pieces, yet the more petite and solid jade cup had turned into a pile of jade shards. This was indeed intriguing.